Mexico-Panama Match a Disgrace to Football

We have full time at Reliant Stadium: 100, yes, 100 minutes of regulation have come to a conclusion.

The most disgraceful football match I have ever seen has just finished. Everything about the match put a black mark on CONCACAF and, in my eyes, football.

The fans. The officiating. The players. The coaching staff. Everything.

The match started off as a promising contest between two CONCACAF nations. Mexico opened the match on the right foot, scoring in the 10th minute by way of a Giovanni Dos Santos breakaway and subsequent pass to Miguel Sabah, who tucked home the easy goal.

Panama scored a goal in the 29th minute by way of terrible defending by the Mexicans. With the game tied 1-1, Panama resorted to the "anti-football." Yeah, the nine-man defense kind of football.

In the 47th minute, just half time, the game had yet another mark of embarrassment. Both Luis Miguel Noriega of Mexico and Armando Caballero of Panama were sent off for shoving each other. The game was now 10 on 10.

The second half started in the same boring fashion the first half had ended. With Mexico incapable of teamwork, Panama's nine-man defense made the CONCACAF powerhouse look like fools.

The game went completely out of control around the 78th minute. Shortly after coming on, R. Phillips was involved in a disgraceful altercation with Mexican manager Javier Aguirre.

Phillips was running down the touchline next to the Mexican bench when he had the ball knocked out of bounds by a Mexican player. Mexico manager Aguirre lifted his leg as Phillips ran by, kicking him in the process.

In disbelief, Phillips shoved the manager and returned to the field. The referee sent both Aguirre and Phillips off. Aguirre will most likely receive both a lofty fine and a lengthy ban.

The next 15 minutes that followed would be the most disgraceful in the history of football. Phillips refused to leave the pitch after being shown the red card. The benches cleared as every reserve, trainer, and coach from Panama stepped onto the pitch.

The referee never had control of the match as it seemed everyone had earned an argument with the referee. Phillips stayed on the pitch for almost five minutes complaining. He then stayed on for an additional five minutes with apparent fear of being pelted by the fans.

The fans spent the 10 minutes of chaos throwing bottles onto the pitch. The referee added 10 MINUTES of stoppage time because of the debacle.

Five of these 10 minutes were wasted by Blas Perez of Panama. He was lightly tackled by a Mexican defender and proceeded to feign an injury.

He was taken off on a stretcher, only to return to the game (illegally, I might add) three minutes later.

The match ended 1-1 with three players and one manager sent off, five yellow cards, and nearly 15 minutes of game time wasted because of complaining.

Panama disgraced football with their multiple offenses of feigning injuries and wasting time.

The fans disgraced football by throwing objects at players and onto the pitch.